A Remembrance of Rain
by Raccoonfg
Summary: It's a rainy day in Zootopia, and something seems to be bothering Nick Wilde...


It was somewhere around five in the morning when Nick woke up to the soft pattering that came from his window. He tried to roll over and block it out, but it grew into a louder and more insistent rat-a-tat, filling the apartment and his ears with its rhythmic tapping, swelling into a louder and louder cascade of noise until it finally burst with a resounding crack.

He knew it was coming, as his room was flooded in a brief flash of light moments before it came, but he still jolted in shock when he heard the thunder. Nick threw off his covers and leapt from his bed, cursing the roaring downpour that transpired outside. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he shuffled over to his window and gazed out onto the city street.

Everything he saw below him was drenched and dripping. Small streams were beginning to take form along the curbs and gutters, carrying small bits of garbage along like driftwood. Scattered mammals ran to and fro with newspapers or pieces of cardboard held high as makeshift umbrellas, while careless drivers drove full steam through newly formed puddles, unwittingly splashing those around them. Nick watched it all with contempt, knowing that he would soon have to leave the safety of his home and venture out into the loathsome storm.

* * *

"Mmm! Don't you just love that smell?" Judy merrily chirped as she drove their cruiser through the wet streets of downtown Zootopia. "The city air seems so stale and dirty sometimes, but it always smells so much fresher when it rains," she continued; not waiting for Nick to answer her question. He probably wouldn't have said anything even if she gave him the chance. He was barely paying attention at all.

"Mm hm," Nick absently grunted, staring out into the gloomy weather.

"You know, my Dad would always say 'healthy rain makes for healthy crops.'" Judy giggled at her own impression of her father. "So how about you? …Nick?" She finally took notice of the fact that he seemed to be lost in thought. "Nick, are you okay?"

"Huh?" Nick ceased drawing vague shapes on the condensation of the passenger window and looked over at Judy. The look she saw on his face seemed equally melancholy and remote.

"I asked if you're okay," Judy replied with concern in her voice. "You seem a little out of it today."

"Oh," Nick ran a paw through the scruff of his neck and lightly shook his head, trying to brush off the mental cobwebs he had let set in. "Sorry, Carrots. I, uh… I just want to get through the day." Seeing that his partner didn't look all that satisfied with his answer, he further offered "I'm just not a rain person."

Judy's bright mood dimmed a little, but she knew better than to press him when he seemed down. So they drove on through the pouring rain, quietly listening to the dispatch-radio chatter and the fluid beat of the windshield wipers that swept back and forth, pushing away the droplets that steadily splattered on the glass.

Stopping at a red light, Judy spotted a distant arc of lightning and began to count inside her head, waiting for the resonant boom that would follow.

Ten carrots. Eleven carrots. Twelve carrots. Thirteen car—

When the thunderclap finally came, she could almost swear that out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nick jump in his seat; ever so slightly.

* * *

Even when Nick had finished his day on duty, the city was still shrouded in the storm, and it felt like the receding sun only encouraged the rain to grow bolder and heavier in its persistence into the night.

As he walked up the stairs to his apartment, he could hear the water seeping through the cracks of the building's roof and flowing down through the open spaces behind the drywall. Patches of wet wallpaper bulged and sagged, giving the old building a wretched appearance that somehow reflected his own disposition.

The dampness in the air made the wooden door to his room stick and swell, leaving him with no other choice than to brace his shoulder against the entrance and shove it open. When he barged inside, he found that the water was even getting through his ceiling, creating a few dark puddles on his carpet. Nick sighed and immediately got to work sorting it out, collecting an armful of towels and cooking pots, distributing one of each to every affected area. Soon the noise from outside was joined by the lazy sound of water landing on metal.

After changing out of his soaking wet uniform, he turned on the TV and cranked up the volume to try and drown out the intrusiveness of the weather.

An hour later, and moments away from turning in for bed, Nick heard a knock at his door. He almost didn't hear it at first, due to the loud television, but the easily recognizable pattern of the soft paw rapping against his door was hard to miss. He quickly got up, turned off the television, and ambled over to greet his visitor.

Once again the door stalled at his touch, and he had to practically yank it off its hinges to swing it open. Standing beyond his doorway was the tiny figure of Judy, clutching a dripping orange and green umbrella in one paw, and holding a canvas tote-bag in the other. Despite how bad it still was outside, her fur was bone dry. But Nick figured that shouldn't come as any surprise for him; only Judy Hopps could remain to be a ray of sunshine in the darkest of storms.

"Can I come in?" She asked, with a warm smile on her face.

"S-sure, Carrots," Nick awkwardly stepped aside and waved her in. "I was actually just getting ready to turn in…"

"Oh, well that's okay," she pleasantly noted as she walked in and started weaving around the minefield of saucepans, heading towards Nick's couch. "That is- If it's alright with you."

Nick swiveled and turned to follow Judy's progress across the living room, feeling a little bit confused. "Alright with what?"

"Well…" Judy reached into her tote-bag and withdrew something big and soft looking that was wrapped up in plastic bags. "I was thinking about how you were having a bad time today, what with the storm and all." As she continued explaining herself, she pulled away the plastic bags and revealed that she was carrying a large hand-made quilt. Nick recognized it from the times he visited her place; it was made by her grandmother and passed down to Judy when she moved to Zootopia. "And when I was little, some of my brothers and sisters had trouble sleeping during storms. So what my mom would do was get a big blanket and cuddle with them on the couch until they could sleep." With a flick of her wrists, she unfurled the quilt and laid it down across the couch surface. "So what I was thinking was that maybe…" Judy's smile took a sheepish form, openly admitting how embarrassed she felt in suggesting this. "Maybe you might feel better if I came over and did the same for you. I-if it's alright with you."

Nick stared at her blankly for a moment, almost making Judy regret making a fool of herself, but then he managed a little smile and nodded. "Of course it's alright."

So moments later, after they had made their preparations for rest, and switched off the lights, the two of them huddled together on the couch and pulled the big cozy quilt over themselves. They had been partners for a while, and friends longer than that, but this was literally the closest they had ever been. Yet somehow, despite that, it all came so naturally when Nick wrapped his arm around her and let Judy nuzzle up to his chest. He could feel her slender body rise and fall with each breath, and in kind, she too felt the slow undulation of his lungs. Calmness crept in and dulled the unquiet water around them, finally giving Nick a sense of ease.

However, without fail, that inevitable burst of light spread through the room, and the sound of electricity tearing through the air followed. Judy sensed Nick's body seize up at the sound, just like in the cruiser, so she slid her paw over his chest and slowly massaged him, reassuring Nick that she was there with him, and everything was okay.

She wished that she could ask Nick just what it was that troubled him so much during weather like this, but she understood that what was most important at this moment was easing the pain of someone she cared so deeply for. To be his bit of warmth and comfort on a tempestuous night like this.

Whatever it was, it could wait for another, brighter day.

* * *

It was somewhere around ten in the evening when young Nick woke up in his little bed to the soft pattering that came from his window, and the sound of someone knocking at the front door. Moments later, he heard his mother answer it.

"Can I help you officer?"

"I'm sorry to disturb you at this hour, but is this the Wilde residence?"

"Yes."

He tried to roll over and block it out, but it grew into a louder and more insistent rat-a-tat, filling the house and his ears with its rhythmic tapping.

"Is your husband John Wilde?"

Swelling into a louder and louder cascade of noise.

"Yes… What is this about?"

Until it finally burst with a resounding crack.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Wilde, but there's been an accident."


End file.
